Outfront is CBC's first person documentary series. In "He's My Brother", Marcus Parmegiani tells the story of his brother, Nick, who three years prior, at the age of 33, became a cocaine addict.
Nick is heavy. You've heard his story before – after $50K of residential rehab, he's scheming and scoring again, willing to defraud his family, in this case his younger brother, and whatever friends he might have left, for drugs. If there were another ending, we likely would have heard it by now.
Producer Steve Wadhams collects great sound -- from the street, from the phone, from parties -- and mixes it over music bedding that helps empty the sonic void without coming to foreground. But Marcus's wooden delivery of staid script undermines the verisimilitude that's created – the contrast with his voice as participant is stark.
The 12:00 Outfront length affords real immersion into character and story. Eventually, Marcus admits what you've known from the beginning, "After three years of trying, I now know I cannot be my brother's keeper."
Nor his brother's storyteller. Unlike half a dozen other Outfront docs I auditioned, "He's My Brother" lacks the requisite first-person axis. It's not really Marcus's story, and he's not the best one to tell it.
That said, this is still well-made radio, worth a turn. And the Outfront series represents welcome cool air from Canada this summer, so switch it on.
Review of He's My Brother
Geo Beach
Posted on June 03, 2005 at 01:07 PM
Outfront is CBC's first person documentary series. In "He's My Brother", Marcus Parmegiani tells the story of his brother, Nick, who three years prior, at the age of 33, became a cocaine addict.
Nick is heavy. You've heard his story before – after $50K of residential rehab, he's scheming and scoring again, willing to defraud his family, in this case his younger brother, and whatever friends he might have left, for drugs. If there were another ending, we likely would have heard it by now.
Producer Steve Wadhams collects great sound -- from the street, from the phone, from parties -- and mixes it over music bedding that helps empty the sonic void without coming to foreground. But Marcus's wooden delivery of staid script undermines the verisimilitude that's created – the contrast with his voice as participant is stark.
The 12:00 Outfront length affords real immersion into character and story. Eventually, Marcus admits what you've known from the beginning, "After three years of trying, I now know I cannot be my brother's keeper."
Nor his brother's storyteller. Unlike half a dozen other Outfront docs I auditioned, "He's My Brother" lacks the requisite first-person axis. It's not really Marcus's story, and he's not the best one to tell it.
That said, this is still well-made radio, worth a turn. And the Outfront series represents welcome cool air from Canada this summer, so switch it on.